


Shambled Genin

by Michinokao



Series: Every fic with Retsu Aki in it [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Team 10, BAMF Team 8, Confused Nara Shikamaru, Different Teams, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Genma is the best, Kakashi actually teaches, Kurenai takes no shit from her kunoichi, Naruto is Just Naruto, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Protective everyone else basically, Strong Female Characters, Strong Friendships, Uchiha Sasuke Has Issues, Well - Freeform, but he solves them, other teams are passing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2019-09-19 15:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17004483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michinokao/pseuds/Michinokao
Summary: A single act of clumsiness causes the genin teams to end up much different than intended. Following the teams 7, 8 and 10 it's incredible to see what a mistake can change.





	1. In Shambles

_In Shambles_

Unlike most people tend to think, the Hokage just suggests which teams of the genin graduates seem to harmonize. Teams such as Ino-Shika-Cho are always accepted unless there are more suitable compositions. In the end, the teams are decided by the council and the Hokage can put in a veto if they go too wild.

Sarutobi Hiruzen scrolls through the folders made out of loose papers with the genin and their appointed jonin and freezes. So far, it had been a bit unconventional with his son being the sensei of three non-clan graduates. Well, he guesses somebody else has been deemed better to teach the new Ino-Shika-Cho formation.

He's wrong apparently. Who the hell decided to break them up? Huh... when he thinks about it, it  _does_ make sense. While the Ino-Shika-Cho formation is already trained to work together they would miss the trial of having to improvise with others. Even though it's weird to have three boys or two girls on a team, it's not forbidden. The third Hokage takes a drag from his pipe and goes over the last three teams again.

Team 7 with Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi is exactly what he'd been expecting but to have Nara Shikamaru in it? He thinks about it and then nods. There have been incidents with the girls of that class stalking the young Uchiha. Maybe it's better not to risk a fangirl being on the team to aggravate Sasuke further. Also, Naruto doesn't need any healing due to the Kyuubi's chakra, Sasuke is pretty fast and will activate his Sharingan along the road so his dodging is going to be good and Shikamaru, prone to have a high chakra control with the nature of his clan's jutsus, can always pick up some medical jutsus. He is a genius after all and the general team formation fits the premise of "two highly promising ninja with the dead last firmly squeezed in". Hiruzen agrees with Kakashi as the jonin. The silver-haired man will teach them well if he sees potential. With the last Uchiha, the Kyuubi vessel  _and_ the most intelligent clan's heir, the Hokage is sure there is an overflowing pool of just that.

Also, with three boys on the team it'll be nearly impossible for Kakashi to see his own genin team in them. The council has understood the need to bury any resemblances to Nohara Rin for it is a weakness to be constantly reminded of the incident that cost him her life.

Colour Hiruzen impressed. He hadn't thought the council would, after years of having no common sense at all, gain said trait all of a sudden.

He stamps Team 7 as "Hokage approved". Now to Team 8. Normally, a genin team with two kunoichi is bound to be weaker because girls most of the time have less chakra than boys and they aren't as aggressive as their male counterparts with their lack of testosterone. But! As far as he knows, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino have a harsh rivalry going on. They will be fierce kunoichi and Sakura has no qualms about hitting her classmates. With Aburame Shino as a buffer between them and Yuuhi Kurenai as a strong kunoichi herself he can see that even if the two girls are hesitant to hit the enemy, the genjutsu mistress and adept jonin in general (if she'd just been unusually good at genjutsu she'd be a tokubetsu jonin) will show them how to overcome their weaknesses.

There are other good points for this composition, so Team 8 is approved as well.

Team 10 makes him blink. Genma of all people should teach Akimichi Chouji, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba? Granted, Chouza had been Genma's jonin sensei so he will know how to teach young Chouji. Perhaps this team is as it is because of the Inuzuka's feral nature and to counter it, two of the most peaceful genin? The Hokage rubs his nose bridge. It could be interesting. Three heavy hitters combined with a tokubetsu jonin known for his analytic mind. Kiba will learn how to assess the situation and how to be stealthy, Hinata will be slowly prodded out of her shell and Chouji can profit from somebody who has knowledge about his clan's techniques.

Interesting... Hiruzen scratches his chin. Interesting indeed. Team 10 isn't as far-fetched as he'd initially thought it to be. He's getting old, he muses, too old to see past the kids' clan affiliations. The council obviously thought about it more thoroughly than he had.

For the last time of the day, he stamps the folder – this time with the number 10 on it.

"Aki-kun?" the old man calls out for the genin corps member.

An unsure "Y-Yes Hokage-sama?" answers him. The boy shuffles into the Third's office. Hiruzen holds out his hand with the folders and puts them in the wide-eyed fourteen year old's arms.

"Please give them to the archive secretary on floor three." With that, Retsu Aki heads off "And Aki-kun?", only to stand ramrod still when the dignified and legendary Sarutobi "The Professor" Hiruzen asks for him once more.

"Y-Y-Yes Hokage-sama?" He doesn't turn around, doesn't want the man to see his shocked face.

Hiruzen raises an eyebrow. Sighing, he says: "Eat and drink something, will you? You look like you'll pass out."

"...Yes Hokage-sama. Archive on floor three, was it, yes? I-I'm just going to put the files there. Now. Excuse me!" Aki runs.

As soon as he gives the secretary the folders, he slumps down in relief when he's reached the outside of the Hokage's tower. Oh god. His hands are shaking. Hopefully, he didn't screw something up, he thinks to himself. "But Hokage-sama would have said something if anything felt amiss!" Aki mumbles incoherently.

Contrary to Hiruzen's belief, the council hasn't gained a sudden bit of sense. No, even though their meeting was packed with powerful shinobi and even ANBU, they had decided to do the genin corps something good by entrusting one of them the newly appointed genin teams. Their fault, really.

Aki had heard about "Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto with..." and that was it. When he had tripped on his way to the Hokage and  _every_ paper had fallen out of their folders, he'd nearly begun crying. His father had always told him he'd never be a decent shinobi and then he just had to prove the alcoholic right.

Luckily, Aki possesses a spark of intelligence and sorted the teams according to what he knew and what was obvious. Hatake Kakashi has the Sharingan, right? Of course he'd have the last Uchiha on his team and as mentioned, he overheard Uzumaki being on there as well and from what he remembered someone with an S is the third team member.

Maybe Sakura? No, this didn't seem right. Aki had observed a scene between the Uchiha, the Uzumaki and Sakura. Who in their right minds would put them on a team? No, the council was composed of intelligent men and women (in Aki's naive mind) so they'd never do something so stupid. He knew the Nara were unprejudiced against Uzumaki (against what others were prejudiced, he had absolutely no clue), so he had to be the third member of Team 7!

The other teams were sorted with beads of sweat running down his face and his pumping heart in a tight grip of fear. He didn't want to be thrown out of the genin corps! His fellow mates were all nice. Aki had never felt camaraderie before, definitely not on his own genin team where he'd been bullied for being weak and kicked off of when they hadn't even passed a simple test about teamwork (how the others didn't notice it was about that, he'd never understand). So he put all of his smarts in this task. He could have asked the council but... he  _was scared_.

What if they decided he was unfit to be a genin corps member?

What if they took the last chance of becoming a great shinobi away from him?

The teenager had poured all of his thoughts into it and considered how the council would assort the teams and ended up with... certainly not the correct order. He knew it, too. Aki wasn't idiotic enough to think he hadn't made mistakes but at least the teams would be able to work with the information he had gathered from their Academy evaluation.

That the council  _intends_ on failing 66% of the newly graduated genin, he didn't know at the time (and later on, he'd think it plainly stupid).

And then he had given his modified folders to the Hokage. Aki had reasoned that if the old man thought to be something wrong, he'd speak to the council again and they could sort through it.

Now, the fourteen year old is kneeling on the ground and this time, tears of relief flow from his face. He's done it! He isn't going to be sacked! Aki slowly stands up, lets out a heavy breath and shakily follows the Hokage's advise – Ichiraku's it is.


	2. Teams 7, 8 and 10: Meeting

**Team 7 & Team 10: Meeting**

Umino Iruka glances at the names on the scroll, humming in disbelief. Nonetheless, he continues with a steady voice: "Team 7 consists of Uchiha Sasuke" two girls practically growl in anticipation while shooting each other wary glances, "... Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto wants to die, "and ...Nara Shikamaru with Hatake Kakashi as their sensei."

Suddenly giving up his lazy composure, Shikamaru nearly falls off of the bench. Has he heard that right? No Ino-Shika-Cho? "Eh, Iruka-sensei?" he asks, thinking it to be a mere mistake.

The scarred man huffs and answers: "No, Shikamaru-kun, I  _can_ read. It says so on the scroll and I'm sure you three can make it work."

"Believe it!" Naruto shouts through the stunned classroom. A lot more quietly, he adds: "Even though we have the Teme on our team."

"Hn." Sasuke grunts. It could either mean he agrees, he disagrees or he hasn't registered what's going on and why it is weird to have three males on their team. Maybe he's glad that neither one of the currently too shocked to properly form a word banshees, Sakura and Ino, will pester him... or so Shikamaru muses.

He himself just blinks a couple of times but accepts the situation quickly. Hatake Kakashi is a very competent jonin so he isn't too bothered. The fact that there is an ongoing rivalry between his other two team mates is a bit troublesome. Although... he has prepared to face Ino on a daily basis and this isn't worse than her nagging.

Sakura and Ino nearly miss the next assignment. Unluckily for the ears of the poor other students, they don't.

"On Team 8 we have Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura with –" Iruka is cut off by two pre-teen girls yelling an outraged "WHAT?!".

"QUIET!" he barks back, used to their fangirling contests and animosity, "As I was  _saying_ " he stares the two young kunoichi down until they have to swallow under his disappointed gaze, "their jonin sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai."

Shikamaru cranes his neck to see how Shino is taking the news. As expected, his appearance is still stoic but there's also a bead of sweat on his cheek. The Nara is suddenly  _really_ glad that he's not in Shino's position.  
Naruto seems to think otherwise as he's enviously gazing at Sakura and then eyes the Aburame heir with the same look.

"Team 9 is still active so we'll jump ahead to Team 10 which consists of Akimichi Chouji, Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba with tokubetsu jonin Shiranui Genma. Now please wait here in  _silence_ " another stare is directed at Ino and Sakura who want to make their displeasure known yet again, "for your jonin to collect you."

Chouji pats his best friend's back. "Could have been worse, eh?" he asks, munching on a potato chip.

"Much worse, yeah. I'm just a bit thrown off that they didn't stick us together." Shikamaru answers honestly. He's always relied on Chouji to have his back and now that that's not possible anymore – at least until they make it to chunin – is kind of eye-opening. Maybe they have separated them because of their reliance on each other, to show them that they'll have to adept to all kinds of people to become good shinobi.

Nara Shikamara is wrong for the council had intended to rely on that but well, that's that.

One by one, the jonin senseis casually trot in to pick up their students. Another pat is exchanged when a man no older than thirty comes in. He chews on a senbon which is a dead giveaway. Genma collects his new students with a small smile. He isn't used to getting clan kids (the council always underestimates him just because he's no actual jonin) so he's excited to have three of them this time. Obviously, it doesn't mean they'll pass but they seem to have a much more promising set-up than his previous genin teams.

Just before he goes out of the classroom he notices the lack of another sensei lurking behind.

Genma raises his eyebrows and turns to the three boys who are waiting. "Who are you waiting for?" he asks them.

The blond haired kid wearing an orange abomination of a track suit perks up at the tokubetsu's question. "Kaka-something!" Shikamaru snorts and even from the usual stoic Uchiha a curt amused sound is heard.

" _Kakashi?!_  They gave you Kakashi as a jonin instructor... alright, wanna go with us? We're going to have our first meet-up at Yakiniku Q." Genma offers easily.

"But aren't we supposed to wait here?" It's surprisingly Sasuke who speaks up.

"Eh. Kakashi is notorious for being late. We could pick him up early and do a sort of double genin team introduction." the brown haired man shrugs and twirls his senbon between his teeth.

Naruto jumps up from the desk he's been sitting on and bellows: "Yosh! C'mon Shika, Teme! Let's go with them!" Genma isn't surprised that such an energetic kid speaks as if every sentence is exciting enough to put an exclamation mark at the end of it. He has to fight the smile at the memory of Kushina oftentimes doing the exact same.

He wonders if he'd have invited Team 7 too if he'd been assigned the usual pretty much worst clan-less children thrown together to torment him. Probably not. Usually, he fails them after five hours. His genin test isn't the most difficult but it involves teamwork and quite frankly, the council's inclined on giving him exactly those who have nothing of that in their bones.

Finally, they've climbed off of their high horses and gifted him with two angels and... and... an Inuzuka. There's no other word for the animalistic natured Kiba. Every Inuzuka is like that, more or less, but this shouldn't be a problem at all with Hinata's and Chouji's peacefulness. Nice. Genma's three little brats don't even bat an eyelash when Team 7 trots behind them. Okay, Hinata glances at an oblivious Naruto every time she feels it safe to do so but other than that, they're all quite well-behaved.

Genma spots Kakashi standing in front of the memorial stone and has to hold back the sigh threatening to break out of his mouth. Of course – where else would he be? Minato's child is in his team, no wonder he couldn't help but seek out long lost souls before confronting him.

"Oi, Kakashi-san!" the tokubetsu jonin calls out. Startled, Kakashi turns around. Although his facial expressions are veiled by his mask, he blinks at the six genin and Genma before walking over, lazily waving his hand. "Yo. Did you kidnap my genin team?"

"Yeah" Genma says, making the other man snort.

"Huh but... aren't we short on one kunoichi?"

"You don't know you have three boys? Didn't even check the final placements, eh?"

The masked man shrugs nonchalantly, answering with a slightly chagrined tone: "Maa, didn't think the council would change something... normally they don't. Hokage-sama told me I'd have a... what was her name? Sayuri or something –"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto throws in helpfully.

Kakashi nods. "Aa, yeah. Anyways,  _why_  did you kidnap my genin, Genma-san?"

Genma rolls his senbon again before pulling it out of his mouth and pointing its sharp end at the memorial stone. "How long would you have avoided them?"

"I would never do something like that..."

"Oh yeah?" the tokubetsu jonin snorts, "Well, maybe you're right. You'd just have become lost on the road of life or something like that."

The other man sheepishly scratches his head. "The road of life is a bit tricky, you see..."

Kiba and Naruto, both loud-mouthed brats without any restraint, call out: "Bullshit!"

Honestly, up until then, the six genin have just been kind of awkwardly standing behind Genma while listening to the increasingly weird conversation between the two high-ranked shinobi. A couple of them, only Shikamaru and Chouji really, have even sat down next to each other after it became clear that it would be a rather long verbal exchange. With Hinata blushing furiously every time she gazes at Naruto and with Sasuke constantly brooding, the only ones aggravatingly pacing back and forth have been said blond boy and the Inuzuka heir.

It's almost as if they have waited for an opening to voice their discomfort.

"Alright, alright. So, where do you intend on leading us, Mister Kidnapper?" Kakashi asks with his single eyelid crinkled in a cutesy smiling way.

"Yakiniku Q."

That being said, it's surprisingly easy for the eight of them to fall into a leisurely walk. The six genin, even Naruto and Kiba, can hold their voices until they reach the restaurant. No wary glances are directed at the blond jinchuuriki with two of the most proficient shinobi at his side. It's... comfortable – nice, one might say. Naruto sits down next to Shikamaru and Hinata at a round table where there initially has been a shortage of one chair. He almost thought he'd be excluded when, all of a sudden, Kakashi-sensei has taken a chair from a neighbouring table, sat down on it himself next to Genma and made a gesture for him to sit anywhere he wants to.

Naruto honestly can't believe his luck. The only adults who never look down on him are Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji. For Kakashi-sensei to be amongst them – it's amazing.

Sasuke blinks at the strange light in his team mate's eyes. Huh, has he missed something? He turns to Shikamaru who is stationed tactically between the two other Team 7 genin and raises his eyebrows in a silent question.

The Nara shrugs dismissively and it could be either "I don't know" or "It's too complicated to tell you when there are others around." It's probably option two because Shikamaru is even more intelligent than Sasuke (which is a feat in itself because when you're completely alone herded in an empty clan compound, one tends to become invested in short of everything to block out unnecessary emotions).

"Hn." he grunts back.

Well, so there they are. Team 7 are on the left side of the table and Team 10 on the right.

Food is ordered and when it's clear that they have a bit of time on their hands before it arrives, Genma begins speaking: "On a team it's important to know each other – so we're going to introduce ourselves to our comrades. We have two teams here. That's even better in the long run if you all pass the mandatory genin tes tomorrow. Should you not pass..." he pauses, making sure that everyone is still listening to him (they are – he's a pretty decent speaker), "...it's good to have connections anyway, no matter which future you end up having."

"What he said!" Kakashi states merrily, making his team sweat-drop.

Genma clears his throat. "On that note, I'll give you an example how you should do it and then we'll go from right to left. Alright?" Most of them nod.

"So, as you know my name's Shiranui Genma. I'm twenty-nine years old and I like reading, training with my senbon and pumpkins. I dislike dishonesty and my goal is to support the Hokage to my best abilities. Got it? Right, then we'll begin with you."

Chouji blushes lightly at the unwanted attention but he says steadily: "I'm Akimichi Chouji. I'm twelve and I like cloud gazing with my best friend and potato chips. I... I hate when I'm underestimated just because of my weight... and my goal, I guess, is to become a strong shinobi."

Genma flashes him a warm, lazy smile and motions for Kiba to do the same.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba!" he immediately proclaims, "I'm twelve too and I like Akamaru and my hobby's playing hide and seek" faintly, Naruto whispers: "Yeah, no shit with that cheat of a nose." and Kiba's grin grows impish at that, "and I hate people who think the Inuzuka suck 'cause they aren't stuck up like other clans. My dream is to become the best ninja ever! Better than the Hokage himself!"

Naruto splutters, wanting to intercept but Shikamaru flicks his forehead.

Hinata's head is completely red when she is prompted to introduce herself. "I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata, a-also twelve. I lo... – I mean I like... flowers and pressing them. I don't really dislike much. My hobby is training and I w-wish to become a good person."

The tokubetsu jounin is interested in the fact that she says "person" instead of "shinobi". He nods at his genin and then Kakashi's follow.

"Uzumaki Naruto! I love ramen but I hate the three minutes it takes for them to cook! My hobby is playing pranks and I will become Hokage! Believe it!" That was to be expected.

"Nara Shikamaru, same age as the others, and I like cloud watching with Chouji. I dislike troublesome things and my hobby is playing shogi. My goal is to protect my team, my precious people and the citizens of Konoha." Even though it's said in a lazy drawl, the message behind it makes Naruto gape open-mouthed at the Nara. Maybe it's because he's never even heard Shikamaru talk more than one sentence at a time before. Who knows?

And then it's Sasuke's turn. He eyes the others before stating: "I'm Uchiha Sasuke, twelve. I like... tomatoes." at that, he blushes a bit and scowls at the table underneath him. He hadn't wanted to blurt that out but when nobody laughs at him, he deems it safe to proceed, "I dislike people who think I'm great just because of my clan and who pity me for the same reason. My hobbies are drawing and training. And my goal is to... to..." he halts yet again. So far, the mood has been light and he has felt comfortable even with the dobe Naruto sitting at the table. He doesn't want to drag everybody down and it's not as he'd never had other ambitions than to re-enact his clan and slaughter  _that man_.

Sasuke says the unimaginable: "My goal is to publish my artworks in a collection."

"You draw that good?! Teme, you gotta show me!" Naruto yells, somehow pointing at him in accusation.

"Alright... I guess." the Uchiha answers, scratching his cheek while averting his eyes in embarrassment.

Kakashi blinks thrice before the statement of his genin truly sinks in. And then his whole world shatters. It's good, though, very good. Sasuke isn't as far into revenge as he has pegged him to be and if he can get his three little menaces to work together, he can even properly train them.

All eyes land on him. Ah, yes. He's the only one left. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I'm twenty-six years old and I like my ninken. I dislike people who leave their team mates behind, my hobby is reading romance novels" Genma hides a snicker, "and my goal is to make my sensei proud and train a team that's even greater than the Sannin."

"That's going to be us, believe it!" Naruto says loudly before sheepishly looking at Shikamaru, "Eh... Who are the Sannin?"

They laugh, not at Naruto but with him and then the food arrives and it's...  _"Is that why Iruka-sensei has told us that Konoha's strength lies in teamwork?"_ a boy asks himself.

Kiba shares stories, Hinata smiles, Chouji laughs, Naruto's hidden hurt nearly vanishes, Shikamaru's not finding anything troublesome and Sasuke, who has asked himself this question, can't help but let himself be dragged into the conversations.

Genma has a good feeling about Teams 7 and 10.

**Team 8: Meeting**

Yuuhi Kurenai's patience is diminishing by the second. She has led her team to the nearest training ground and told them to introduce themselves to her. Shino, while he's said the least, seems to be not opposed to working with two kunoichi.

He isn't the problem.

Kurenai sometimes wants to trap the Hokage into a genjutsu that lets him live through whatever kind of bullshit she has to deal with. Asuma has complained to her because he didn't get Ino-Shika-Cho... well, she doubts that he is in any position to do so after she tells him her first impression of Yamanaka Ino.

And Haruno Sakura, for that matter, isn't any better.

They are still fighting over that Uchiha boy. It's been ten minutes. Shino stands next to her because he doesn't want to be involved. The red eyed woman can't take any offense to that as she herself is avoiding them. Hatake Kakashi's approach to such situations is now justified in her books. Maybe she'll let them wait a couple of hours to cool down and tell Shino the right time when he's expected to show up.

Another ten minutes and she's had enough. E.N.O.U.G.H.

"Shut up. Both of you." No, she doesn't scream. The sentence is uttered in a normal volume but the cold harshness layered with a bit of killing intent (that's how pissed off she is) make Ino and Sakura stop in their tracks.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourselves? Is this how you want to present yourselves in the real world as well – as little girls who fight over a boy who doesn't want anything to do with them? I can understand him, really, if you are just like that in front of him."

Shino's sunglasses slip down a bit and reveal the extent of his shock. Not that he isn't grateful and loves how badass his sensei is but he has never seen anybody be  _that_ angry before.

"If you are only kunoichi just because you want to appeal charming to some boy then you'll die in less than a minute out on the field. Being a kunoichi, being a shinobi, is NOT fun. It's duty. It's waking up at four in the morning to an ambush from enemies. It's making your first kill and vomiting afterwards. It's losing people you have fought side-by-side because of human mistakes. It's training your asses off in a career path dominated by men. Most of those men will respect you as their fellows. Others, though? Not so much. They will question your very existence because you're a woman. If you don't end up as a medic or a seduction specialist even more so because  _heaven forbid_ a kunoichi being better at tai-, nin- or genjutsu than their male counterparts!" Kurenai hisses dangerously.

Sakura fell to her knees a while ago, shakily looking up at her jonin sensei. Now, after Kurenai's speech, Ino does the same.

"Tomorrow morning at six sharp, right here, you'll give me a reason...  _one reason_... why I shouldn't just immediately take you from the program. I will test you. If you fail, then I will mark you as irredeemable so that you will never endanger another team with your foolishness. Dismissed."

Yuuhi Kurenai leaves her genin team in the dust.

With that, she changes the fate of two kunoichi and, for that matter, the Aburame heir's as well.


	3. Team 8: Genin Test

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ay, the man with the weird names isn't dead yet.

Sakura dreams of Sasuke telling her she’s a failure after her sensei throws her off the team. When she wakes up, she’s drenched in sweat and her heart pounds in her ribcage. It’s not even four in the morning but she can’t find it in herself to sleep for another hour. So she slowly stands up and takes a quick shower. After that, she stumbles tiredly into the kitchen.

She, frankly, doesn’t give a shit about her diet today. A spontaneous cheat day, huh? Well, Sasuke-kun isn’t on her team, so she doubts the centre of her attraction would notice her stomach bulging a bit from eating breakfast.

And if Ino-pig comments on it, Sakura will either way be able to beat her in the race towards Sasuke-kun’s undying love. She could also beat Ino-pig up.   
Thus, she munches on some quickly boiled salted rice and drinks three cups of orange juice.

The clock tells her it’s still too early to walk to the training ground where she is to meet her sensei (she shudders just thinking about the woman) and the rest of her team. In recent years, Sakura has dedicated a lot of her time on looking presentable for her crush... now it would be utterly useless to do so. Not only is Sasuke-kun not on her team, no, she also doesn’t think Kurenai-sensei (another shudder) would appreciate it if she went for beauty instead of comfort and practicality in her style.

What does the jonin even want to test them on? As far as Sakura knows, there aren’t any requirements past the genin curriculum to study under a jonin sensei. Is it really just a spontaneous test because of Ino’s and her behaviour the day before? But why would Kurenai bring Shino into it as well, then?

Sakura huffs and takes another sip from her juice. What a mess. Just because Ino-pig couldn’t keep her big ass mouth shut for once!   
Ah... she sighs and flushes when she remembers how she had reacted to the blonde’s taunts. She hadn’t been able to hold down her anger. Inner’s voice had also cheered her on to defend her honour as Sasuke-kun’s future wife.

So, it escalated a tad – but it isn’t as if she’d throw a punch at Ino in the middle of a mission! _“Really, you wouldn’t?”_ Inner’s traitorous voice doubts.

“Would I? Would I risk the mission success because I can’t regulate my mood?” she asks herself and she can’t honestly say she wouldn’t. God, is she really such a... a little girl? Is Kurenai-sensei right? Is she unfit for service?

Sakura bites her lip and stares down on the table, hard enough that she feels a strain behind her eyes. Long buried insecurities are coming to light. No wonder with a sensei such as Yuuhi Kurenai. She’s beautiful, she’s tough and she’s really dangerous – everything Sakura has ever wanted to be, even before she has met Sasuke-kun for the first time.

The girl sighs deeply, inhaling the early morning’s air that rushes through the house. It’s still kind of dark outside but as far as she can tell, it’s going to be a typically sunny day. Her fingers clutch the glass in her hand.

“Will I ever be like her?” she asks herself quietly and forlorn. Sakura doesn’t think she’d be able to live with the shame of not passing and being sent back to the Academy or being disqualified from service. What _would_ she do if it comes down to it?

Her throat is all of a sudden rather clogged up and it’s hard to swallow when her mouth is layered in a bitterness she’d never before known. Automatically, the grip on her glass tightens. Honestly? “I don’t know” she thinks, “I... I really don’t know. I just have to pass. I can’t... I can’t...” Inner remains suspiciously silent.

Sakura inhales, smelling the fresh wake of the upcoming day and she wants to vomit.

She can’t...

... she really _can’t_...

“AH!” the pinkette hisses in pain after a shattering sound echoes through the kitchen. She looks at her hand in shock. Leftover orange juice drips onto the hardwood floor. Faintly, she hears her mother’s scolding about not cleaning it up immediately inside her head. The spiel is too familiar not to.

She clutches her bleeding hand and slowly drags out the shards that are stuck inside her palm. God, she’s such an idiot. Tears are welling up in the corners of her eyes – _Such an idiot_ , she is _so freaking dumb it_ literally _hurts_...

Sakura blindly dances around the areas where she thinks stray shards lie and hurries to the bathroom. Her parents aren’t here, they’re still on yet another business trip and she... she feels helpless, alright? She doesn’t even know whether she has managed to pick out every glass part and shouldn’t she have let water run over it? Sakura swallows down a whimper when the gauze she fishes out of the poor med-kit touches the fresh wounds. Doesn’t matter, she tells herself, it’s getting late.

She doesn’t have much time to spend on treating her injury before she has to get dressed for the team meeting.

Ignoring the pain, the girl walks into her room and chooses one of her black training jumpsuits. Sakura doesn’t want to admit it but it’s much more comfortable than the form-hugging quipao-like red dress she usually wears out in public.

Shinobi sandals are being put on with her healthy hand. She fastens the kunai pouch on her hips and ties her hitai-ate... not without having to hiss in discomfort as the small gashes stretch with the action, unluckily.

Sakura heads off to the training ground, jogging through empty streets.

She can see Shino’s form from afar. He acknowledges her with a curt nod and she returns the gesture.   
The Aburame heir eyes the bandaged hand almost immediately and raises an eyebrow in askance.

“Was an accident” she murmurs faintly, voice still rough because of the day’s earliness. He answers: “Be more careful in the future, please. Why? Because it could hinder our work.” It doesn’t sound as aloof as it should, in Sakura’s opinion. She doesn’t know what to say to that, however, so she just settles for a dispassionate shrug.

Ino appears a couple of minutes - which are spent in an utterly awkward silence between Sakura and Shino – later. She wears her usual outfit as well but seems to be half asleep. Sakura’s glad for that because for once, she’s not inclined to start an argument with her ex best friend.

From the corner of her eyes, the pinkette sees Shino stiffen up because Ino has decided to use the poor lad as a makeshift pillow.   
Minutes go by and Sakura’s head finds the boy’s other shoulder when their sensei, who seemed punctual but now isn’t, doesn’t appear. Shino sighs so quietly she almost doesn’t hear the sound.

She grows tired of napping on her male teammate soon enough. Why is she so tired, tough? She hadn’t... had she been... what?

The girl yawns tiredly, automatically raising her dominant hand to her mouth and – ouch!

Wait! The drowsiness is entirely gone all of a sudden. She squints and turns around to her teammates. They’re... gone? What?! Oh, what the hell? She isn’t even at the location where they were supposed to meet up!

 _“I’m your sensei. My name is Yuuhi Kurenai and I’m a genjutsu mistress.”_ Sakura’s eyes widen in realization. Of course their test has genjutsu included with a sensei such as Kurenai. She wants to smack a palm against her forehead. She only noticed the jutsu because the pain threw her out of it.

The girl runs towards the training ground, every couple of minutes clutching her injury and, for good measurement, calling out “Kai!” nearly as often.

Are Ino and Shino in similar situations? Sakura knows Ino is actually really out of it before eight in the morning and she doesn’t know whether the boy’s bugs detect such a subtle genjutsu yet.   
When she arrives, though, a disgruntled looking pale blonde haired girl gives her an unimpressed look.

Shino just stands next to her, not saying anything.

“Genjutsu?” Sakura asks the other two.

“Noticed it after a while. Quite a bit earlier than you, huh, Sakura-pig?” Ino arrogantly answers, not at all being like the quiet genjutsu version of herself, which is probably due to the fact that she doesn’t want to look weak in front of her rival. Inner Sakura sweat-drops.

“I don’t know why it took you so long. It was really simple to detect.” the only boy says.

Sakura frowns. While she has spoken to literally a genjutsu before dispelling it, she knows how Shino talks and what to look out for in the Aburame.

“KAI!” she roars...

...and promptly makes a fool out of herself when Shino doesn’t vanish.

Ino chuckles and makes some remark about her weirdness but Sakura doesn’t listen to the other girl’s taunts. Instead, she scrutinizes the boy she knows isn’t her teammate.   
He suddenly grins and she sees the corner of an explosive tag on his collar.

Sakura reacts impulsively by grabbing Ino and _hurrying the fuck away_. Ino bitches for about three seconds before an ear-splitting explosion sounds behind them. The pink haired girl can feel bits of rubble hitting her back but she doesn’t care. What she needs to do is finding a safe spot for Ino and her to make a plan to find the real Shino.

“What the hell?!” Ino cries but shuts up when Sakura hushes her.

The two of them flee towards the forest which encloses the training ground. Beneath a tree, Ino signs for Sakura to stop.

She does so without asking.

“W-We need a plan.” Sakura stutters out of breath. Damn it, her stamina sucks ass.

Ino bites her bottom lip, not sure yet if she should trust Sakura or not. After a couple of moments, she looks into Sakura’s eyes with determination and states: “First of all, we need to have a codeword to identify ourselves if we’re ever split, right?”

“Right”

“We need something only we know of...” Ino says.

The pinkette has an idea. “Why I decided to become a kunoichi.” she answers with a triumphant smirk. Only Ino and her know the real reason not the “Of course because of Sasuke-kun!” version.

A short nod confirms her suggestion. Now that they have time to assess their surroundings, the two girls listen for any sign of danger. Nothing but a light rustle of leaves caused by typical Konohan wisps of wind comes to their attention. Sakura breathes out a relieved sigh, slumping against an unyielding tree trunk. Her hand throbs uncomfortably. More distracting than that, however, is just _how_ dishevelled her whole appearance must be at the moment. A small pang of something akin to shame lets her look down at the dewy grass.

“Sakura? Plan?” Ino startles her out of it – isn’t it embarrassing, the pink haired girl asks herself quietly, how natural Ino can slip into a state of professionalism when she struggles so hard with it? She swallows down her bitterness to focus on the task at hand.

“How should we look for Shino? Do you have any idea how to locate him?”

Ino slowly shakes her head. “I could try to connect minds with a bird but...”

“Too dangerous?”

“Too dangerous.” she agrees.

“Alright. Eh... then we’ll have to search by foot. I doubt Kurenai-sensei would hide him too far away from the training ground. So... let’s split and meet in ten minutes at the training ground again?” Sakura suggests and because Ino doesn’t come up with something better than that, the blonde agrees. With that done, they coordinate where they’ll search – Ino covering the whole south side while her team partner heads to the north.

Then, they disperse. Sakura runs towards her designated area, always alert and looking out for potential dangers. However, there doesn’t seem to be any attempts at ensnaring her in another genjutsu. The foliage isn’t dense enough for her not to see through it. She doesn’t sense anything out of the ordinary. Sakura just hopes they are right in their presumptions about what they have to do. It just has to be about Ino and her retrieving Shino  – it has to! Otherwise, it would mean they’re ultimately wasting their efforts and time and she doesn’t want to think about that being the case.

So she continues searching fruitlessly. The radius isn’t all too big as the forest rather abruptly ends with Konoha’s village gate directly stopping her.

Even before the ten minutes are gone by, the young kunoichi has a feeling that she won’t find much besides trees and animals. When the time has come to meet up with her childhood friend, Sakura tries not to be disappointed by the failed search on her end. Perhaps Ino has found Shino... she truly hopes she did.

As Sakura wanders back to the training ground, she halts in her thought process. What was it...? _“I really hope Ino found Shino.”_ She’s surprised at herself – how fast she’d been able to adapt in seeing the Yamanaka as her friend rather than her foe.

Ino already waits for her at the spot, hair ruffled and slightly sweaty just as Sakura is. Promptly, Sakura asks: “What was the reason why I became a shinobi?” and Ino answers just as readily: “You wanted to protect your civilian family.”

“Did you find something?” the Haruno pleads after confirming their identities.

Ino grimaces, hair whipping right and left as she shakily denies.

“Shit...” Sakura curses, “What should we do now?!”

A bell rings. Its sound comes right from above their heads. The two girls snap their heads up in shock to see their jonin sensei appearing out of thin air with Aburame Shino at her side.

Ino lets out a slight gasp and Sakura can’t help but fall to her knees. All this time, they’d been so goddamn _close_?! She feels stupid, unbelievably dumb... of course... never did they consider just looking up... The girl clenches her teeth. Her hand throbs uncomfortably when she makes a fist to try to contain her tears. They have failed... _she_ has failed.

“I must say, you are something else.” Kurenai begins, tone impartially neutral as she lands on the ground, “I didn’t think you would manage to pass.”

Sakura stares at the jonin in shock and Ino as well as Shino do so too. “But -?” she tries to speak but is silenced by Kurenai’s hand.

“You never found your teammate and you never found me either. That much is true.” Another wave of shame floods Sakura’s gut. “However, your objective never once had been to find us. I am a genjutsu mistress – do you really think I can be found so easily by genin of all people? No.”

“But what _was_ the objective then?!” the blond haired girl intervenes. Now, Kurenai actually sports a small smile. The woman says: “Why, isn’t it obvious? Teamwork, of course.”

For a moment, the three genin are silent before Shino sceptically asks: “Why wasn’t I a part of the test then?”

“Aburame have teamwork ingrained into every part of their lives – they have to share their bodies with insects which can be tricky if they don’t work with them. I didn’t want you to turn the tables by communicating and hauling them into teamwork.” the genjutsu mistress steadily replies, “You two girls on the other hand, have actively worked _against_ each other. I don’t need mistrust and hatred in a team. Thus, I thought to myself: _> >If they’re really not capable of working with each other and set their rivalry aside, they’re lost causes.<< _But you did manage to work together, splendidly so. I am actually impressed.”

Sakura and Ino share a genuine grin when Kurenai utters the next words: “You three are now officially part of Team Eight!” and even Shino, as stoic as he usually is, smiles into the collar of his coat.

Team Eight passes.


End file.
